@Clive
Well-known member
Inspired by some of the latest threads on here I went down to the basement and looked for my old film cameras. I had sold off virtually everything after sustaining a serious eye injury in 2006 that prevented me from seeing clearly through viewfinders. It took years to heal properly, but the upside was that I sold off the gear before it devalued when digital took over. Then I had another cull before moving abroad and I couldn't remember what I had left.
I didn't find the Olympus XA. That must have been sold, but I have a small Ricoh rangefinder 35mm, a Pentax ME-Super 35mm SLR and a Zeiss Ikonta 6x9 folding camera. I got the first two going after fitting new batteries and the Ikonta has a mechanical mechanism. So all are working.
Then I looked into buying film. €12 for a roll of 35mm x 24 colour film and the same for a roll of 120 film
Then the processing costs added twice as much. If I opted for printing and scanning the 8 images from a roll of film through the old Ikonta it would work out at around €4 per photo. 24 photos from the 35mm cameras would be €1.50 per photo or €1.10 without the scanning.
The price of some film cameras is also eye watering. Olympus XA compact camera from the 1970's are being snapped (sorry) up at over €100 within 24 hours of the ads being placed. Any Leica or Contax film camera is worth more now than back when film was readily and cheaply available. I used to have a Contax G2 outfit bought new from Germany in 2004. If I had kept it I would still get my money back today. The ordinary plastic cameras are scrap and medium priced late model SLR cameras aren't highly valued, but there are certain brands and models that still appear to be highly sought after. And there are some real oddities. Around 2002 I bought a nice Rank-Mamiya rangefinder for a fiver from Cash Convertors. That was what they were fetching back then. There are currently 2 on the freeads at over €100 each. Crazy!
I didn't find the Olympus XA. That must have been sold, but I have a small Ricoh rangefinder 35mm, a Pentax ME-Super 35mm SLR and a Zeiss Ikonta 6x9 folding camera. I got the first two going after fitting new batteries and the Ikonta has a mechanical mechanism. So all are working.
Then I looked into buying film. €12 for a roll of 35mm x 24 colour film and the same for a roll of 120 film
Then the processing costs added twice as much. If I opted for printing and scanning the 8 images from a roll of film through the old Ikonta it would work out at around €4 per photo. 24 photos from the 35mm cameras would be €1.50 per photo or €1.10 without the scanning.
The price of some film cameras is also eye watering. Olympus XA compact camera from the 1970's are being snapped (sorry) up at over €100 within 24 hours of the ads being placed. Any Leica or Contax film camera is worth more now than back when film was readily and cheaply available. I used to have a Contax G2 outfit bought new from Germany in 2004. If I had kept it I would still get my money back today. The ordinary plastic cameras are scrap and medium priced late model SLR cameras aren't highly valued, but there are certain brands and models that still appear to be highly sought after. And there are some real oddities. Around 2002 I bought a nice Rank-Mamiya rangefinder for a fiver from Cash Convertors. That was what they were fetching back then. There are currently 2 on the freeads at over €100 each. Crazy!